Russian investigators have opened a criminal case against the leader of the Ukrainian movement Right Sector, Dmytro Yarosh, under two articles of the Criminal Code, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
“The case has been opened under two articles: public calls for extremism and public calls for terrorism,” Markin said.
“In his speeches the head of the ultranationalist Ukrainian
organization, Right Sector, Dmytro Yarosh publicly urges anti-Russian
forces to commit extremist actions and terror on Russian territory,”
according to investigators.
The Russian Investigative Committee is planning to secure an arrest
in absentia of Yarosh. “Very soon the investigators will request the
remand into custody of Yarosh, and then Yarosh will be put on the
international wanted list,” Markin said.
Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh turned to terrorist Doku Umarov for
support on March 1 and posted a statement in the social network
VKontakte, urging Umarov “to support Ukraine.”
“As leader of the Right Sector organization I am urging you to
intensify your work. Russia is not so strong as it seems. You have a
unique chance to win now. Don’t miss it,” Yarosh wrote.
Chechnya head Ramzan Kadyrov reacted to this posting. “I have learned
today that Dmytro Yarosh urged Doku Umarov to intensity terrorist
operations against Russia. Yarosh said it was time Umarov supported
Ukraine by plotting terror attacks in Russia,” Kadyrov said.
“This man, Yarosh, is out of his mind. He is awaiting help from a
bandit who is where no one has ever returned from,” Kadyrov said.
“If Yarosh confesses that he fought in Chechnya all measures will be
taken to punish him the way he deserves, and he will get a one-way
ticket as his friend Umarov once did,” Kadyrov also said.
North Caucasus militant leader Umarov founded the Caucasus Emirate
organization in 2007 which is banned in Russia as a terrorist
organization.
The United States entered Umarov onto the international terrorists
list in June 2010. In March 2011 the UN Security Council added Umarov to
the list of terrorists linked to the international terrorist network
Al-Qaeda. In May 2011 the U.S. pledged to award $5 million to a person
who provides information about Umarov’s whereabouts.
Kadyrov said in mid-January that Umarov was killed. Sources in special services did not confirm to Interfax that Umarov is dead.
At the same time, Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadsky said on
March 2 that the movement’s page on a social networking site had been
hacked and denied allegations that Yarosh had made such a statement.
Skoropadsky said that Right Sector’s position was “not to yield to
provocations and not to start anything first, but we are ready to
respond to the occupation troops of the Russian Federation if they start
military operations.”
